heart and limbs and mind

The only book from my Mr B's Reading Spa which I bought that I already knew about and knew I wanted to read was A Compass Error, the follow up to A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book but it was lovely to be transported to sunnier climes in the midst of such a dull early spring.

'She loved the shapes of bottles and of course the romantic names and the pictures of the pretty manor houses on the labels, and she loved the link with rivers and hillsides and climates and hot years, and the range of learning and experiment afforded by wine's infinite variety; but what she loved more than these was the taste - of peach and earth and honeysuckle and raspberries and spice and cedarwood and pebbles and truffles and tobacco leaf; and happiness, the quiet ecstasy that spreads through heart and limbs and mind.' Sybille Bedford A Compass Error

bottles

What will you be drinking this weekend?

promise of spring

Some of our days have really made me think, feel and know that Spring is around the corner, though a fling back to winter has now, predictably, happened. I wouldn't quite call those mornings 'balmy' but I have hung the washing out to dry and keep checking the garden for new life. The promise of spring is definitely out there.

'Soon there was the promise of spring. The almonds were out, the days were longer, the morning balmy. They opened all their windows; it was not a time to stay indoors and at noon they often took their food and wine to the watch tower and ate below its sheltering walls.' Sybille Bedford A Favourite of the Gods

windows

How will you celebrate the promise of spring this weekend?

half an hour

Sometimes it's not even a whole sentence just a collection of words that stand out.

'Running up the stairs, with half an hour not to spare to have a bath,' Sybille Bedford A Favourite of the Gods

bathing

I love the idea of not having time, but still choosing to take a bath. 

And meanwhile

One of the lovely books I read this summer was A Favourite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford re published by Daunt Books.

'Anyhow who is this ideal husband of yours? Where is he?'

'He isn't an ideal husband, he is just a man I should be proud to marry.'

'Have you met him?'

'No. Not even in fiction. I have no idea what he'll be like. But I shall know when we meet.'

'That sounds like love.'

'So much is,' said Constanza.

'And meanwhile, darling, you had better take me.'

'Meanwhile,' she said, 'is for people who do not know when to wait.'

Sybille Bedford A Favourite of the Gods

fiction

Do you have a fictional character you'd like to love, be loved by and spend your life with?